Aharon Leib Shteinman

Aharon Yehuda Leib Shteinman (), also Shtainman or Steinman (November 3, 1914 – December 12, 2017), was a Haredi rabbi in Bnei Brak, Israel. Following the death of Yosef Shalom Elyashiv in 2012, he was widely regarded as the Gadol HaDor (Leader of the Generation), the leader of the non-Hasidic Lithuanian Haredi Jewish world. Along with several other rabbis, Shteinman is credited with reviving and expanding the appeal of European-style yeshivas in Israel.

Early life

Aharon Yehuda Leib Shteiman was born in Kamyenyets (Kaminetz), the son of Noach Tzvi and Gittel Faiga, and raised in Brest (Brisk), then part of the Russian Empire. He studied in Yeshivas Toras Chessed in Brest, headed by a rabbi known as the Imrei Moshe. He attended '' shiurim'' (Torah lectures) given by Yitzchok Zev Soloveitchik (the Brisker Rav). He also studied in Kletzk under Aharon Kotler.

Upon reaching draft age in 1937, Shteinman was subject to the Polish draft, as Brest had come under the control of the newly established Polish state in the aftermath of the First World War. He and his close friend, Moshe Soloveitchik (a grandson of Chaim Soloveitchik), tried to evade the draft by starving themselves, but they were declared fit to serve by the draft officer. The two then fled with other Brisk students to Montreux, Switzerland, where they returned to Torah study in Yeshivas Etz Chaim. With the outbreak of World War II, the two became war refugees, and were incarcerated in the Schonenberg labor camp near Basel, where nearly all the inmates were Torah-observant. Shteinman and his friend were put to work laying roads, but due to his thin frame and short stature, he was released from manual labor and assigned to a desk job.Blum, Aryeh. "The Early Years: The scent of Switzerland – Rav Aharon Leib Steinman". ''Mishpacha'', 27 September 2012, pp. 44–45. Shteinman was the only member of his family to survive the war.

Shteinman was known for his extremely modest lifestyle. His apartment, on Chazon Ish Street 5, was sparsely furnished, and had not been painted in many years. Until 2014, he slept on the same thin mattress that he had received from the Jewish Agency upon his arrival in Israel in the early 1950s.

Rabbinic career

During his first years in Israel, Shteinman and his family lived in Kfar Saba; his sons were sent to a cheder in Petah Tikva. Eventually, they relocated to Bnei Brak, where he headed the Ponevezh Kollel. In 1955, the Ponevezher Rav, Yosef Shlomo Kahaneman, opened the yeshivah ketanah of Ponevezh, called Ponevezh L'Tzi'irim, and asked Shteinman to serve as rosh yeshiva (dean), together with Michel Yehuda Lefkowitz. Shteinman stopped giving his regular ''shiur'' in 1998, but retained the title of rosh yeshiva. He was also rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas Gaon Yaakov, which is led by his son-in-law, Zev Berlin.

Despite publicly supporting life-long Torah study and forbidding secular learning, Shteinman's private positions were perceived as more nuanced and accommodating. This made him a target of criticism from both right-wing elements of the Haredi world, as well as reformists. One such false perception was that he supported the idea of weak yeshiva students being drafted to the Netzah Yehuda Battalion, a religious section of the Israel Defense Forces. Don Segal inquired about this rumor in a letter to Shteinman, to which he responded In a related development, the rosh yeshiva of Derech HaTorah brought a ''bachur'' (yeshiva student) in to see Shteinman. The student said he had no taste at all for learning, and that he had been unsuccessful in yeshiva, and therefore he wanted to go to the army. Shteinman told the student that it is forbidden to go to the army because they ruin people. The bachur retorted, "But today they have a program in the army where you can keep Torah and mitzvos." Shteinman responded, "There is no such thing. People who go to the army always get ruined." When the ''bachur'' tried to argue with him a bit, Shteinman responded forcefully, banged on his table and said, "I guarantee you that if you go to the army, regardless of what program you join, you will return a total non Jew.' Recoiling at this, the student gave up his plans and returned to yeshiva.

Political career

When Elazar Shach, the founder of the Haredi Degel HaTorah political party, would be consulted for advice, he would sometimes refer people to Shteinman. Shteinman was a leader of Degel HaTorah, and exerted much political power in the United Torah Judaism political coalition. He was close with Yaakov Aryeh Alter (the Gerrer Rebbe), a major supporter of Agudat Yisrael.

Shteinman told the Degel HaTorah Knesset members that their main purpose for participating in the Knesset was to protect the status of yeshiva ''bochurim'' from being drafted into the army, and that not a single ''bochur'' should be conscripted.

In March 2014, Shteinman organized a mass protest against Yair Lapid's drafting of a law that would force all Torah students to enlist except for 1,800 "exceptional" students. Shteinman was found by his grandchildren to be crying and reciting Tehillim (Psalms) to annul the decree. Although the draft law passed, it was eventually annulled when the government coalition dissolved a few months later.

Travels abroad

When he was in his nineties, Shteinman undertook to visit and strengthen key Haredi and other religious Jewish communities outside of Israel. In 2005, he visited a number of cities in North America with significant Haredi populations or institutions, including Brooklyn, Lakewood, New York City, and Passaic

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